Method for synchronization and management of system activities with locally installed applications

ABSTRACT

The present invention will enable the user to follow a presentation while waiting for presentation files to download to the user&#39;s local machine. This invention provides a dynamic cloud based approach to local hand-off. It will enable users to view a cloud or other remotely-based (found via a URL) or screen-shared version of the presentation until source material has downloaded.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of the parent application Ser. No.13/668,294 which was filed on Nov. 4, 2012. The contents of which areincorporated herein by reference. The status of this parent applicationis pending.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a method for accessing and managinginformation located on a system by a remotely located machine device. Inparticular, the present invention relates to a method and system forhanding-off and synchronizing information located at a remote systemlocation to a local machine. Further, the invention of the presentinvention relates to an automatic handoff of a presentation from aremote system location to a local machine, wherein the hand-off of thepresentation can be from a web-based presentation version to a localmachine.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Slide presentations are a major form of communicating information topeople. These presentations comprise information displayed on one ormore slides with verbal communications based on the informationdisplayed on the slides. Historically, these presentations have occurredin front of groups of people at one location. For example, a majorcomponent of many seminars and workshops is the slide presentation. Theadvancements in technology have provided new ways to use slidepresentations to convey information to people. The Internet hasinitiated new ways for people to communicate and exchange information.

One activity resulting from technology advancements has beenweb-conferencing. Web conferencing is a procedure that allowsconferencing events to be shared with multiple remote locations. Thisprocedure and format allows real-time point-to-point communicationsbetween parties. In addition, web-conferencing provides for multicastcommunications from one sender to many receivers. Web-conferencingtechnology also offers information of text-based messages, voice andvideo chat to be shared simultaneously, across geographically dispersedlocations. Applications for web conferencing include meetings, trainingevents, lectures, or short presentations from any computer.

FIG. 1 illustrates a general configuration for a web-based conference orseminar. This process begins with the creation of a presentation thatusually contains some audio and visual elements such as slides. Thecreator/presenter 100 uploads this presentation to a host providerlocation 102. This host provider can be a server device located on anetwork that is remote from the presenter and from those who willeventually view the presentation. Common names for this type ofpresentation in this format include web-conferencing and web-seminar(“webinar”). In implementation, the presenter 100 announces the activityand invites persons to attend. At the time of the activity, thepresenter 100 accesses the presentation at the hosting provider 102. Theattendees 104, 106, 108 and 110 also access the hosting provider to viewthe presentation. In the current webinar configuration, the presenterhas access to and controls the presentation. The attendees access thehosting provider and view the presentation. The attendees have nocontrol over the visual information presented. In some configurations,the attendees can ask questions of the presenter. When an attendee asksa question, the presenter can stop the presentation and answer thequestion. As shown in FIG. 1, the presenter 100 has the ability totransmit to and receive information from the hosting provider 102.However, as also shown, the attendees can only access and viewinformation from the hosting provider.

During a webinar, the attendees can view the slides from the hostingprovider. In another arrangement, the attendees can download thepresentation to their local machine and view the presentation as it isoccurring. However, currently, attendees who want to download thepresentation files have to wait for files to be downloaded to theircomputers to follow along with a presentation. When this occurs, thespeaker/presenter has to wait and initiate small talk to fill the timewhile attendees wait for the completion of the downloaded files.Although as previously discussed, presenters may offer a web-basedversion of the presentation, however, many users prefer to use locallyinstalled applications for improved performance and to enable them tomark up (make specific notes) the slides during the presentation.

There remains a need for a method and system to enable a hybridpresentation that accommodates web presentation combined with efficientinstallation of a local copy.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In this invention, an automatic hand-off of a presentation isaccomplished. This hand-off may be from a web-based version to a locallyinstalled, once the version is completely or sufficiently downloaded.For example, the presentation recipient may view a screen-shared versionof a presentation while the source file is being downloaded to hermachine. Once the file arrives on her computer, she is automaticallyswitched from the web version to the local one, such that bandwidthconcerns about rendering are no longer problematic.

This invention enables the smooth transition from a web presentation toa locally installed one. When the source file is downloaded, hand-off isautomatically done from the screen sharing to local application. Thelocal version is opened at the point where the web version left off.This invention may apply to multiple types of data transfer, includingdocuments, streaming video and other software as a service applications.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a view of a configuration of a conventional web-conferencingevent.

FIG. 2 is a view of a configuration of a web-conferencing event in whichan attendee views the displayed information while the information isbeing downloaded to the attendee's local machine.

FIG. 3 is a view of a configuration of a web-conferencing event in whichan attendee views the displayed information on the attendee's localmachine.

FIG. 4 is a view of a configuration of a web-conferencing event in whichan attendee views the displayed information on the attendee's localmachine, while accessing presentation audio from another device.

FIG. 5 is a view of the components of a web-hosting provider.

FIG. 6 is a general flow diagram of the steps in viewing an onlinepresentation.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of the steps in the implementation of themethod of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

This system of the present invention will enable the user to follow apresentation while waiting for presentation files to download to theuser's local machine. This invention provides a dynamic cloud basedapproach to local hand-off. It will enable users to view a cloud orother remotely-based (found via a URL) or screen-shared version of thepresentation until source material has downloaded.

Referring to FIG. 2, shown is a configuration of the system of thepresent invention in which a presenter 200 is in communication with thehosting provider 202 and begins to conduct a presentation. As mentioned,the presenter has the ability to remotely control the presentation atthe hosting provider 202. The user attendees connect to the hostingprovider to access the presentation. In this configuration, two of theattendees (206 and 210) are viewing the presentation in a conventionalmanner. Attendees (204 and 208) are viewing the presentation byimplementing the method and system of the present invention. As shown,attendee 204 comprises a computing device 204 a and a memory device 204b. The same shows for attendee 208. Both the computing device 204 a, 208a and the memory device 204 b, 208 b are directly connected to thehosting provider 202. At the initiation of the presentation, thepresentation content is being viewed on the computing device 204 a whileit is also being stored on the memory device 204 b. Once the download ofthe contents is complete, the present invention will synchronize thedownloaded presentation with the current location of the presentation atthe hosting provider. This synchronizing action is part of the formalhand-off of the presentation from the hosting provider to the localuser. At this point, the user can begin viewing the presentationcontents from the presentation file stored in the memory device 204 b.

FIG. 3 shows a configuration of the present invention wherein anattendee 304 is viewing a downloaded presentation file of thepresentation stored in the memory device 304 b from the computing device304 a. The computing device 304 a is in communication with the memorydevice 304 b and with the hosting provider 302. The user will view thepresentation file stored on the memory device on the computing device.The user will listen to the audio of the presentation directly from thehosting provider.

In most configurations, the memory device and the computing device arethe same physical device. Further, when viewing many of theseonline/webinar presentations, the user is located at some stationarylocation. However, with the active lives of many individuals, there canbe situations when a user does not have time to sit at one location andview an entire presentation. FIG. 4 is a configuration wherein a usercan view a presentation while traveling. The user 404 will initiallydownload the presentation file from the hosting provider 402 to a localstorage location. In this configuration, the local storage device is inthe computing device 404 a. As mentioned, once the presentation file isdownloaded to the local memory/machine 404 a, the presentation isautomatically synchronized to the currently slide location of thepresentation. The user can incorporate a second electronic device toaccess the hosting provider 402. The second user device can be anydevice that will enable access to the audio portion of the presentation.Once the user has established an audio connection to the hostingprovider 402, the user can listen to the presentation while viewing thepresentation information. For example, with this configuration, a usercan view a real-time presentation while riding a motor vehicle.

FIG. 5 illustrates basic components of the hosting provider device. Asmentioned, the hosting provider can be a server machine located on acommunication network. Presenters would upload their presentations tothe hosting provider. Users would access the hosting provider to viewthe presentations and download presentations to local user machines. Thehosting provider 500 can also be a configuration of components that forma hosting system. As illustrated, this hosting provider 500 can comprisea series of web pages 502 and a web server 504. A presentation engine506 and conferencing applications 508 are the main components tofacilitate the presentation options and functions of the presentinvention. The diagnostic and management module 510 ensures that thehosting provider continues to properly function. The operating system512 and the memory 514 are basic components of any computing system.

The present invention comprises a system and a method forsynchronization and management of system activities with locallyinstalled applications. FIG. 6 illustrates a flow diagram of the generalsteps in creating a presentation and viewing the presentation from thehosting provider. In step 602, a presenter prepares a presentation andcreates a presentation file. This presentation file could be aPowerPoint type file with multiple slides containing presentationinformation. After completion of the creation of the presentation file,the presenter uploads the presentation file to the host provider in step604. The host stores the presentation file in an account for thatparticular presenter. This file storage activity occurs in step 606.Before the actual presentation, in step 608 announcement of thepresentation is sent out to potential attendees. The presentationannouncement contains information about the presentation topic,presentation time and presentation access information. At the time ofthe presentation, the presenter and attendees who chose to view thepresentation will access the hosting provider in step 610. In step 612,the presentation begins with the presenter in control and presenting theinformation to the attendees. The attendees access the presentation andview the presentation from their local computing machines.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of the steps in the implementation of themethod of the present invention. This method illustrates the downloadingof a presentation file to an attendee's local machine while enabling theattendee to continuously view the presentation at the hosting providerduring the downloading process. The steps in FIG. 7 continue the processfrom the end of the method of FIG. 6. In the initial step 700, theuser/attendee accesses the hosting provider. In step 702, the attendeebegins to view the presentation at the hosting provider from a localcomputing device. The user can also choose to download the presentationto his/her local computing device. If the user wants to perform adownload of the presentation, in step 704, the user initiates apresentation file download. A key feature of the present invention isthat the user can continue to view the presentation from the hostingprovider while the presentation file download of step 704 is occurring.In past systems, the user had to wait until the completion of thedownload to view the presentation. In addition, as previously mentioned,a presenter would also have to wait on the completion of the download inorder to allow the user to keep up with the presentation. As thedownload is occurring, step 706 periodically checks the download processto determine if the download has completed. If during a download check,the determination is that the download has not completed, the methodremains at step 706 where the checking continues.

Once the download of the presentation file to the user's local machineis complete, the method moves to step 708. This step is the beginning ofthe synchronization process, which will synchronize the downloadedpresentation on the user's local device with the current location of theongoing presentation. In step 708, there is a determination of thecurrent location of the presentation. For example, there is adetermination of which slide of the presentation is currently beingshown on the presentation. Once there has been a determination of thelocation of the current presentation, step 710 identifies that locationon the downloaded presentation. For example, a determination is that thepresentation is on slide number 7. In step 710, the method will identifyslide number 7 in the downloaded presentation on the user's localcomputing machine. At this point, step 712 will open the downloadedpresentation file to the identified file location. In step 714, the userthen begins to view the presentation from the local computing machine.Step 716 then terminates the presentation view from the hostingprovider. The initiation of the viewing of the presentation at the localuser machine and the terminating of the access to the presentation fromthe hosting provider serve as the hand-off process of the presentinvention. Once the user begins to view the presentation from the localmachine, an optional feature will enable the slides of the presentationto automatically change as the presenter changes the slides on thepresentation at the hosting provider.

The present invention may apply to both:

-   -   A new presentation which the user did not previously have stored        on his local computer but is now acquiring.    -   The situation where the user already has an outdated version of        the file on his local computer and needs to watch the        presentation live while the updates are automatically installed.

Versioning to synch local copy with cloud copy

-   -   1. Version each of the slides with a unique ID until they are        saved or modified    -   2. User has a deck that is 2 versions old that is 80% accurate    -   3. Automatically detect the 20% of slides that are out of date    -   4. Retrieve only the out of date slides from the cloud and        insert into local file    -   5. Prefer the use of the local file when it is up to date. When        it is not, use the remote version.

A user is flipping through a local copy of a presentation deck. As hedoes so, this invention monitors deviations between the local copy and aremote copy. When the user gets to a certain slide, a discrepancy isdetected, and the most recent version of this slide is downloaded fromthe remote site. This permits the local copy to be updated with thelatest version.

While users present the slide show inside PowerPoint, the audiencefollows along in their browser. The presenter of a Microsoft PowerPointpresentation can put others into slave mode so they move in synch.Document management programs offer version management within documents.

It is important to note that while the present invention has beendescribed in the context of a fully functioning data processing system,those skilled in the art will appreciate that the processes of thepresent invention are capable of being distributed in the form ofinstructions in a computer readable storage medium and a variety ofother forms, regardless of the particular type of medium used to carryout the distribution. Examples of computer readable storage mediainclude media such as EPROM, ROM, tape, paper, floppy disc, hard diskdrive, RAM, and CD-ROMs.

We claim:
 1. A method for downloading presentation files from a remotesystem location to a local computing machine and synchronizing andmanaging of system activities, at the remote system location related tothe downloaded presentation files, at the local machine comprising:accessing a system provider hosting downloadable presentation files forviewing by a user, by accessing the system hosting provider, accessingdesired downloadable presentation files and beginning viewing of thedesired downloadable presentation files contained at the system hostingprovider; determining whether a user viewing presentation filescontained at a system hosting provider desires to view the presentationfiles at a user local machine; when the determination is that the userdesires to view presentation files at the user local machine, initiatinga presentation file download process from the system hosting provider tothe user local machine while continuing to view the presentation file atthe system hosting provider; when the determination is that apresentation file download to the user local machine is complete,synchronizing the downloaded presentation file at the user local machinewith the presentation file located at the system hosting provider;transferring user access to the downloaded presentation file from accessat the system hosting provider to access at the local user machine; andterminating the user's access to the presentation file at the systemhosting provider and opening the downloaded presentation file at theuser local machine at the point that matches a point of the presentationfile at the system hosting provider.
 2. The method as described in claim1 wherein said downloaded file synchronizing the downloaded presentationfile at the user local machine further comprises: determining a currentlocation point of the presentation file at the hosting provider;identifying a point on the presentation file downloaded to the userlocal machine that matches the determined current location point of thepresentation file at the hosting provider; and synchronizing the pointon the presentation file downloaded to the user local machine with thedetermined current location point of the presentation file at thehosting provider.
 3. The method as described in claim 2 wherein the userviews the downloaded presentation file of the presentation by accessingthe user local machine.
 4. The method as described in claim 3 whereinsaid user viewing of the downloaded presentation file of thepresentation by accessing the user's local machine further comprises:opening the downloaded presentation file of the presentation at theuser's local machine; and Simultaneously terminating access by the userto the presentation accessed at the hosting provider containingpresentation files for viewing.
 5. The method as described in claim 1further comprising before said accessing of a hosting providercontaining presentation files for viewing by a user, creating apresentation file.
 6. The method as described in claim 5 wherein thepresentation file is created at a hosting provider location.
 7. Themethod as described in claim 5 wherein the presentation file created atthe hosting provider location is stored in an account specificallydesignated for the presenter.
 8. The method as described in claim 1further comprising before said accessing of a hosting providercontaining presentation files for viewing by a user, sending anannouncement of the presentation to potential users, the announcementcontaining information regarding presentation time and host accessinformation.
 9. A method for downloading and synchronizing presentationfiles from a remote location synchronization and management of systemactivities at a local machine comprising: accessing a hosting providercontaining presentation files for viewing by a user, by accessing thehosting provider and begin viewing presentation file contain at thehosting provider; determining whether a user viewing presentation filescontained at a hosting provider desires to view a presentation file at auser local machine; when the determination is that the user desires toview presentation files at the user local machine, initiating apresentation file download process from the hosting provider to the userlocal machine while continuing to view the presentation file at thehosting provider; when the determination is that a presentation filedownload to the user local machine is complete, synchronizing thedownloaded presentation file at the user local machine with thepresentation file located at the hosting provider; transferring useraccess to the presentation from access at the hosting provider to accessat the local user machine; and terminating the user's access to thepresentation file at the hosting provider and opening the downloadedpresentation file at the user local machine at the point that matches apoint of the presentation file at the hosting provider.